Pittsburgh Pirates: Jacob Stallings Walks Off the Chicago Cubs

Tuesday night at PNC Park the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs did battle in the second game of their four-game series

Lefty Steven Brault toed the rubber Tuesday night at PNC Park for his final start of the 2020 season. This start came in the second game of a four-game series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs that will wrap up the 2020 home schedule for the Pirates.

After falling to the Cubs on Monday night, the Pirates bounced back on Tuesday night. Led by a strong start from Brault, the Pirates defeated the Cubs 3-2. The win was capped off by the team’s first walk off home run of the season, and improved their record to 16-39.

Steven Brault Finishes The Season Strong

Coming off the first compelte game of his MLB career, Brault was looking to finish his 2020 season on a high note. Brault would do just that, as he appears to have locked down a spot in the 2021 starting rotation.

In 7 scoreless innings of work, Brault allowed just two hits. In fact, he took a no hitter into the 5th inning. Brault walked three batters, walked two and struck out six. He will finish his 2020 season with a career-low 3.38 ERA. With the start, Brault became the first Pirate starter since Doug Drabek to allow two hits or fewer in back-to-back starts.

Dating back to May 18th of 2019, Brault now owns a 4.20 ERA in 139.2 innings of work in 30 apperances. 27 of these 30 appearances have been starts. If you take away his lone non-start this season, a disaster against the Tigers in which he allowed 4 runs without recording an out, his ERA in this stretch drops to 3.94. Quietly, Brault has found consistency and may be turning into a solid back of the rotation arm.

A Quiet Night For The Offense

The offense did not do a lot for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, this has happened regularly throughout the 2002 season.

Pittsburgh did, however, draw first blood in the 2nd inning. Gregory Polanco lined a single into right field. Polanco would then come around to score on a double by Erik Gonzalez.

Polanco would be the catalyst of the other Pirate run as well. He walked to lead off the 4th inning and would come around to score. It was a double by Adam Frazier that plated Polanco, and gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 2-0 lead.

Thankfully, the lack of offense would not sink the Pirates.

Jacob Stallings Walks It Off

Quietly, Jacob Stallings has become one of the better catchers in the Nationla League. Tuesday night, Stallings continued to flash his game changing ability when he hit a walk off home run to give the Pirates a 3-2 victory.

The solo shot from Stallings was his first career walk off home run. Although, it was his third career walk off hit. It was also the first walk off home run of the 2020 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Stallings is one of the best defensive catchers in the game. He is an elite pitch framer, throw out base runners at an above average rate, is terrific at blocking pitches in the dirt, and does an excellent job handling a pitching staff. To go with his elite defense Stallings now has a 98 wRC+ and a .722 OPS, making him a league average hitter. Elite defense and league average offense is what it takes to be one of the best catchers in the NL.

What’s Next

The third game of this series is scheduled for 7:05 on Wednesday night. Trevor Williams (6.70 ERA, 6.76 DRA) will start for the Pittsburgh Pirates as he looks to end a miserable season on a high note. The Cubs will counter with righty Kyle Hendricks (2.93 ERA, 4.07 DRA).